Weeks' homer helps Brewers beat Astros

MILWAUKEE  Rickie Weeks hit an inside-the-park home run and George Kottaras added a solo shot to lead the Milwaukee Brewers to a 5-2 win over the Houston Astros on Saturday night.

Randy Wolf (8-9), who was forced to leave his last start on Sunday against the Astros in the seventh inning when he was hit on the wrist by a ball hit by Hunter Pence, got the victory. He gave up two runs on nine hits in 6 2-3 innings.

Kameron Loe got the final out of the seventh inning. Loe, Zach Braddock and Todd Coffey combined to pitch a scoreless eighth inning. Trevor Hoffman pitched a scoreless ninth inning to get his sixth save of the season in 11 chances. It was his first save since May 7 against Arizona and the 597 of his career.

Brett Myers (8-7) took the loss for the Astros as he gave up four runs on seven hits in six innings. It was the Astros third straight loss after putting together a seven-game winning streak.

By going at least six innings, Myers extended his franchise record for consecutive 6-plus innings starts to begin a season to 23, which is tops in the Major Leagues in 2010. The last pitcher to start the season with at least 23 starts of six innings or more was Curt Schilling, who had 35 straight in 2002 with Arizona.

Weeks started the game out with a bang for the Brewers. He hit Myers' second pitch off the centerfield wall. The ball bounced away from a leaping Astros centerfielder Jason Bourgeois and by the time he got to the ball, Weeks was rounding third and he beat the throw home.

It was Weeks' 23rd home run of the season and the seventh time this year that he had led off the game with a home run, which set a Brewers' team record. Prince Fielder's RBI groundout in the inning gave the Brewers a 2-0 lead.

The Brewers stretched the lead to 4-0 in the sixth inning on RBI singles by Fielder and Casey McGehee.

Pence and Carlos Lee had RBI doubles in the seventh inning cut the lead to 4-2.

Kottaras hit his ninth home run of the season in the seventh inning to extend the Brewers lead to 5-2.

NOTES: Pence's fifth inning single extended his hitting streak to 13 straight games. It is his longest streak since he also had a 13-game hitting streak in August 2008. ... Brewers manager Ken Macha recorded his 500th career win. Overall, he has 500-421 record. ... Hoffman's appearance tied him with Jose Mesa and Less Smith for the ninth most games pitched in Major League Baseball history with 1,022.